Monday 9/29

We continued working with MATHia today in class. Remember to spend at least 30 minutes working in MATHia outside of the classroom each week to meet your goals.

We'll be taking our Chapter 2 Test on Wednesday this week. Don't wait until the last minute to begin your studying. The best study tool is the Chapter Summary that begins on textbook page 115. This will give you a great idea of the most important ideas from each lesson. Your class work and homework make other great study tools!

Need help with a problem or studying for your test? The Community is here to help!

Parents: Carnegie Learning offers a number of live and on-demand webinars. There are a couple of great ones coming up for parents, as well as a number of beneficial ones available in the on-demand area. Registration for all of the webinars is free!

Homework: MATHia practice

Thursday 9/25

Seven weeks down, and on to the Chapter 2 test next week. Enjoy your three day weekend!!

Wednesday 9/24

We finished Lesson 2.6 today, which now completes our analysis of linear functions. We should now be able to tell all the scenarios when U.S. Shirts is the better buy, and when Hot Shirts is the better buy (and be able to defend our reasoning to our boss!).

If there's anything from today's class work that didn't get finished in class or needs to be improved, please fix it up at home and feel free to check your answers with the link above. Get into the routine of checking your work at home daily and you'll find studying for tests and doing your homework is much easier!

Homework: Finish textbook pages 105-106 (#4-9)

Tuesday 9/23

Today we continued our look at linear functions, equations, tables, and graphs with the first half (Problem 1) of Lesson 2.6.

We discovered that we've got a competitor in the shirt-making marketplace and our boss has tasked us with some analysis.

Homework: Finish textbook pgs 102-103 (#7-9) and complete #1 on page 104

Monday 9/22

Monday meant more time in MATHia for us! Make sure to do 30 minutes of MATHia on your own each week (at home, in the library, at a friend / neighbor's house, etc.) to reach your goals.

Having a hard time getting MATHia working at home? Be sure to check our Carnegie Learning's Getting Started guide. 

Homework: MATHia practice

Thursday 9/18

We finished Lesson 2.5 today, which focused on the shared relationships of equations, tables, and graphs. Be sure to review the solutions to today's class work to make sure you're on the right track and fully mastering all of these different skills.

MATHia tomorrow! Our goal is 50 questions complete by the end of class tomorrow, so feel free to do some work at home tonight if you think you're not quite close enough to your goal.

Homework: Textbook pages 95-96 (#11-15)

Wednesday 9/17

Today in class we started Lesson 2.5, which we'll use to extend our learning from Lesson 2.4. More on that tomorrow!

Need help with your homework or class work? Be sure to visit The Community and request some assistance!

Homework: Student Assignments workbook 2.3 (#1a-d)

Tuesday 9/16

We dove into linear functions today with Lesson 2.4. We took a look at how word problems, constants, variables, tables, expressions, and equations are connected.

Tomorrow we'll pick up where we left off and add graphs to the mix.

Homework: Textbook pages 89-90 (#1-6) "Talk the Talk"  Period 1:  page 88(# 6-10).

Monday 9/15

Today we spent the class period working with the MATHia software. Your goal for the end of the week is 50 problems complete or more. A rubric for MATHia assessment has been uploaded to the Document Locker; we'll be applying this rubric every other week to assess two weeks worth of work at a time.

Friday 9/12

We spent today working with the MATHia software in class. We're all now familiar with the basics, and prepared to begin working on our own at our own pace. Congratulations on another great week of thinking class! Enjoy your weekend.

Thursday 9/11

Today we took our 1st Common Assessment. The questions were challenging, rigorous, and required A LOT of thinking. Congratulations to those of you who got Proficient and or Advanced. For those of you who got Basic or Below Basic there is still hope. Now that you have been exposed to the new testing environment and the rigor of questions take a moment tonight and think about what you can do during class discussions in order to better prepare for the next assessment. 

Wednesday 9/10

We finished our introduction to functions and relations today with the second half of Lesson 2.3.

Homework: TB pg 83 (#1-2). Be sure to explain your reasoning and be prepared to share your solutions and methods. 

Tuesday 9/09

Today we began our look at relations and functions with the first half of Lesson 2.3. We'll finish the second half of the lesson tomorrow.

We'll also be taking Common Assessment #1 on Thursday, but it is a practice Common Assessment and not one that will be entered into the grade book. The Common Assessments are different this year and we'll use this first one to get a lay of the land. No stress necessary. :-)

Homework: Textbook pg 72 (#4-8)

Monday 9/08

We spent today working with the MATHia software in class. We're all now familiar with the basics, and prepared to begin working on our own at our own pace.

Homework: Spend some time at home working with the MATHia software. It may take a little bit of time toget it configured at home, so be sure to do that today.

Java needs to be enabled and allowed to run in order to use MATHia, so please set your permissions to "yes" and disable your popup blocker for Carnegie's websites.

Friday 9/5

We used our laptops today to login to the MATHia software the first time!

You can also log on to MATHia from home using the orange sheet you received today. Feel free to complete the rest of the MATHia Scavenger Hunt this weekend to familiarize yourself with the software. The real work will begin on Monday.

Need help getting MATHia up and running at home? Check out the Getting Starting Guide.

Thursday 9/04

Today in class we finished our look at making sense of graphs and how they apply to the real world with the second half of Lesson 2.2.

There's no test this week! Instead, we'll be taking out our brand new laptops tomorrow and logging into the MATHia software for the first time!!

Homework: TB pgs 64-65 #4 (a-d)and finish any classwork you didn't complete today

Wednesday 9/03

We looked at the first part of Lesson 2.2 today, which focused on the characteristics of graphs. By now you should be able to explain the following terms in your own words:

• discrete graph
• continuous graph
• linear graph
• collinear points
• non-linear graph

Parents: Ask your student to describe each graph shown here (also available on pages 57 & 58 in our textbook) using the terms and methods learned today. If they can do it without using any resources, you know they mastered the lesson! 

Homework: Summarize what we learned today, using and explaining all key terms.

Tuesday 9/2

Today we jumped into Chapter 2 with Lesson 2.1, which focused on sequences. We learned today that often times you have to do a lot of critical thinking and deep analysis to write sequences and discover patterns, clues, and rules. There's no substitute for this careful consideration and critical thinking, and it takes honest, determined practice to get good at it.

Tonight's homework will require this kind of careful consideration. Feel free to use all tools at your disposal (drawings, physical pennies, charts, tables, whatever!). Remember to think first about what the problem is asking you to do (is it only one thing, or more than one thing?). Then consider what you know, and what clues may have been left for you. The next step is to come up with a plan to solve.

Parents: If you're helping your son or daughter at home, please consider asking the above questions first and pushing them to try to "unlock" the problem on their own. It may not come naturally, but that's what they need to practice. The process is the goal, not necessarily the final solution. There are only a few problems on each nightly assignment, but they do require a great deal of deep thinking and careful work.

We also passed back tests today. Any student that earns a D or F on a test is eligible to retake the test on Wednesdays at lunch to try to improve the grade to a maximum of a "C" on a retake. While we want everyone to demonstrate mastery at the time of assessment, this will give highly motivated students a chance to learn from their mistakes and get a second opportunity to demonstrate mastery. If you need help, I'm available before and after school.

Homework: Textbook pgs 48-53 (Problems 5, 9, and 11)

Answers for all the class work and homework can be found at the Lesson 2.1 link above. Be sure to try the thinking on your own first, then check to see how you did. Going straight to the solutions robs you of the chance to learn and grow. Getting things "done" is not the point.